10/7/2009-Soba noodle stirfry- with Japanese bean treat

I was up in Northern Virginia last weekend (otherwise known as the Land of International Grocery Stores). Anyways, I picked up some stuff I'd wanted, but was unable to find umeboshi (to be honest, I didn't really search). But I did get some interesting things, which I will be taking for bento lunches and eating in general.

Contents of bento: plum, mini-pepper stuffed with garlic and herb La Vache Qui Rit, frozen sour cherries. Carrot sticks; soba noodle stirfry; plain, reheated rice topped with broccoli; and a Japanese bean pastry thing. Also:

A "suit case" full of furikake. This kind is pretty simple: sesame, seaweed, salt. But it still tastes a little weird to me. I wish I had included something to show the scale of the "suit case." It's actually a little pill case, about 1" x 2" x 1/4". Sometimes I can fit it inside the bento, even, but I didn't want the furikake to get soggy.

Everything was tasty except for the reheated rice. Bleh. Man, I really need to quit putting old rice in a bento. It's already hard and dry and even though I reconstituted this stuff in the microwave the night before (with a little water) it was still dry and horrible when I ate it. Oh well, live and learn. It might also be the grain. I haven't tried it with the shorter-grained Japanese rice. Needless to say, the furikake did not improve the taste of the terrible, dry rice. Oh well.

The Japanese bean pastry thing was a little strange. I guess I was expecting more like a mochi bean cake, but the outsides of this thing are like styrofoam (actually, EXACTLY like those little ice cream cones? You know, the "cake" ones?). The insides are not red bean, but fruit-flavored bean goo. I'm not doing a great job "selling" them, but they are actually pretty tasty.

10/3/2009- Potatoes and Broccoli pasta

I made this bento to eat on Saturday at work, with the expectation of taking my box with me when we went out of town straight from work. I like to wash out the container at work, so then I can put leftovers directly into it, should the need arise. It's worked out pretty nicely so far.

Contents of bento: plum, frozen sour cherries, a mini pepper stuffed with the solids of black bean soup. On the right side, breakfasty potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a deliciously oily pasta made with broccoli slaw and other stuff. It's garnished with pepper rings and a piece of Parmesan.

The cherries thawed nicely by lunch time and were a tasty addition. They were picked last summer and have been living in our freezer for a loooooong time. I decided I need to start getting on the train of eating them up. Nothing leaked and everything was tasty, yay!

10/1/2009-Soba Noodle Stir-fry and HB bento

This posting is a kind of exciting posting because it features pictures from the first photographed HB-Bento! Woo! The very first bento I made for myself (long, long, ago) was accompanied by the very first HB-Bento (i.e., the first bento for HB). Well this posting contains the illustrious SECOND HB-Bento (the first one to be photographed). Back when I started I thought it was a little weird that people take pictures of their lunches. But then I got into reading bento blogs. Man, are those pictures key.

Contents of my bento: plum, 2 mini-peppers stuffed with garlic and herb La Vache Qui Rit; soba noodles stirfried with edamame, sweet-soy simmered tempeh, and topped with broccoli and turnip.

I simmered the tempeh with some kombu and dried black fungus (mmmmmm fungus) in soysauce, mirin, and a little rice vinegar. I also added in a big spoonful of brown sugar. Deeee-licious.

The whole reason why HB got a bento today too was because I bought him this swank new bento box. It's a tiffin-style container from World Market. And it's dishwasher safe, which I have tested out. Mostly, though, it holds a lot of food and doesn't look plastic or girly, which means there are more places he can take it. It also looks like it would hold up to some beating, which is also crucial.

Tiffin! Metal (stainless steel), Indian bento-style container. This one has two compartments and it snaps together nicely. It's pretty waterproof, though I haven't really tried testing the limits of that. The outer surface of the compartments has this nice dimpled pattern in the metal. It's really quite an attractive item. Purchased from World Market for the low, low price of $10.

And here it is filled with foods.

Contents of HB bento: on left, mini-pepper stuffed with La Vache Qui Rit (garlic and herb), some baby carrots, a plum, 2 toothpics of edamame, packet of miso soup, and a silicon baking cup filled with homemade spicy, salty cashews (I do them on the stove top with curry powder, salt, and cayenne). On the right, soba noodle stir fry (same as I got, just in a huge, HB-sized portion).

A closer view of the bottom container.

I did pack this the night before and stuck it in the fridge, as is my wont.

The verdict was very positive. Hooray! And he said he didn't mind the container, so I think there will be more HB bentos in the future. Excellent. The term that I found in this book I got from the library (The Food of Japan: Authentic Recipes from the Land of the Rising Sun, by Takayuki Kosaki and Walter Wagner) is aisai bento, or loving wife's lunch. Essentially, it's the lunch that a wife packs for her man, which may or may not embarrass him in its decorativeness. The book is, to my estimation, so-so. But it does have some nice narrative in the beginning about different areas they cover in Japanese cuisine.

9/30/2009- Artichoke pasta

A really simple bento today. Basically just three things, which is not usually how I pack them. I was feeling a little uninspired. Though, I suppose, just inspired enough not to take a tupperware.

Contents of bento: on left side, steamed broccoli and red pepper strips. On the right side, artichoke, tapenade, and pesto penne with three strips of Parmesan cheese on top.

Not much else to say about it, really. Though this pasta was dry enough not to have the sauce suctioned over around the lid. Hooray!

9/29/2009- Tapenade roll ups and broccoli bento

This bento is basically my answer to "oh no! what ever will I take for lunch?!" It's a problem, especially when there are not a lot of leftovers in the fridge.

Contents of bento: on left side, large bed of steamed broccoli, a small pepper stuffed with potato quesadilla filling, garnished with pepper rings. On right side, 4 tapenade and goat cheese roll-ups made with spinach tortillas. Also garnished with red pepper. The side car holds salsa for the broccoli. (or whatever else I wanted to eat in it.)

Everything was tasty, though I can see how you want to make sure that rollups have very dry fillings. These had gotten a little moist by lunch time. I took the picture in our break room at work, hence the dim lighting.